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Why do I have excessive hair?For most people, having excessive hair is due to hereditary factors, this means that it is more common in certain ethnic groups or certain families. There is no underlying medical cause for excessive hair growth.
Rarely, excessive hair may be due to underlying medical problems. Medical conditions with hormonal disturbances resulting in extra hair growth may also be associated with weight gain, deepening of voice and menstrual irregularities.
Occasionally, excessive hair growth may be due to medical and surgical treatments. Certain medications such as ciclosporin A may cause excessive hair growth as a side effect. Surgery involving tissue grafting may result in excessive hair due to the use of hairy grafts.
Your dermatologist will go through your medical history and perform a thorough examination to diagnose your condition.
Should I remove these excessive hair?The excessive hair can be left alone. However, for some people, this may cause social embarrassment and psychological distress, therefore they would prefer to remove the excessive hair. Others prefer to remove them for cosmetic reasons.
How can the excessive hair be removed?There are various methods available for hair removal. The temporary methods remove the hair shafts but leave the hair follicles and hair roots intact. Common methods include shaving, waxing, application of depilatory cream and plucking. Recently a new cream (efornithine cream) that slows hair growth is reported to help women with unwanted facial hair. With temporary methods, hairs will eventually grow from the hair follicles again and the process needs to be repeated indefnitely.
Other methods include the removal of hair shafts and also result in the destruction of hair follicles and roots. In the past, electrolysis was used. However, in recent years, laser hair removal has emerged as a better method.
For laser hair removal, an intense light source of a specific wavelength heats up and destroys the hair follicle selectively. The special light is absorbed by pigments within the follicle and the heat generated, “burns” the hair follicle without causing much injury to the surrounding tissue.
Do lasers work wonders for hair removal?
Lasers DO
Lasers DO NOT
What are the precautions for laser hair removal?
Before the laser treatment, you should:
After the laser treatment, you should:
What can I expect from my laser treatment?